Featured Image: Action Moments for Inside Cheerleading Magazine
Everyone wants better jumps, and stretching is one way to improve them! Without adequate hip mobility it’s hard to get your legs up and into the right positions in the air.
I’ve put together a short stretching sequence that only takes a few minutes and can be done every day!
Make sure you do a thorough warm up before stretching, then hold each stretch for 30-45 seconds. Repeat as many times as you feel needed – generally 2-3 times per stretch should be enough.
1. Straddle
Helps With: Toe Touch
Sit in your widest straddle, with your knees fully straight and toes pointed. Reach forward as far as you can without letting your legs turn inward. You should feel a stretch on the inside of your thighs.
2. Hamstring Stretch
Helps With: Pike & Hurdler
Sit with your legs together, knees squeezed, toes pointed and back straight. Using either your hands or a resistance band, grab one foot and pull upwards until you feel a stretch on the back side of your leg. Sit up tall and make sure your back is not rounded in any way.
3. Pike
Helps With: Pike & Hurdler
Sit with your legs together, knees squeezed, toes pointed and back straight. Reach up with your arms, then bend at the waist to reach forward. You should feel a stretch through the back of your legs and occasionally in your lower back.
4. Butterfly
Helps With: Toe Touch
Sit with the soles of your feet together and actively try to pull your knees down to the floor. For a deeper stretch, use your hands to push your knees down or reach forward and try to touch your chest to your feet. You should feel a stretch in the inside of your thigh and/or on the outside of your hips.
5. Pigeon Pose
Helps With: Toe Touch & Hurdler
Position yourself with one leg bent in front of you and the other straight out behind you. Squeeze the knee of the back leg and let your hips sink down to the floor, keeping your weight evenly distributed between both hips. You should feel a stretch on the outside of the hip of your front leg and/or the front of the hip on the back leg.
6. Layback Quad Stretch
Helps With: Hurdler
From the pigeon pose, keep your front leg as is, bend your back leg and lay down on your back. You should feel a stretch in the front of your hip and thigh of the back leg.
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